[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 4340-4341]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       BALTIMORE ORIOLES TO PLAY EXHIBITION GAME IN HAVANA, CUBA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, on Monday, this Nation and baseball lovers 
around the world mourned the passing of the Yankee Clipper. Joe 
DiMaggio's career was certainly brilliant and worthy of the praise and 
the eulogies we have heard these past few days. As a testament to his 
career, many people who never saw him swing a bat or steal a base felt 
a sense of loss, a loss felt not only for the man but for the 
institution that he so nobly represented, the game of baseball.
  Baseball, Mr. Speaker, transcends generations. The names of Ruth, 
Gehrig, Mantle and Aaron are as familiar to baseball fans of today as 
they were during their playing days.
  Baseball also transcends borders, Mr. Speaker. The passion we 
Americans have for the game of baseball is not confined to this nation. 
That same passion can be found in many parts of the globe, including 
the nation of Cuba.
  On March 28, the Baltimore Orioles will travel to Havana, Cuba, in 
pursuit of that passion.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Baltimore, MD (Mr. 
Cummings).
  Mr. CUMMINGS. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Baltimore Orioles' goodwill 
mission to Cuba. In the past year we have witnessed several historic 
events that are significant to the evolving debate surrounding Cuba, 
its citizens and United States efforts to promote democracy.

[[Page 4341]]

  Last year, Cuban citizens were allowed to celebrate Christmas. In 
January, Pope John Paul II conducted a series of open air masses across 
the country that were televised. And recently, direct humanitarian 
charter flights to Cuba and cash remittances to Cuban relatives of U.S. 
citizens were resumed and the provision of medicine and food was 
authorized.
  These initiatives were the precursors to future efforts toward 
peaceful cross-cultural engagement, including people-to-people contact 
among academics, media and yes, even athletes.
  The last major league team to play baseball in Cuba was the 1947 
Brooklyn Dodgers, who held spring training in Havana to insulate Jackie 
Robinson from the racial hatred so prevalent in the United States at 
that time. Fifty-two years later, the role has changed. The first major 
league team to visit Cuba in 40 years, on March 28, 1999, the Baltimore 
Orioles, will be ambassadors of peace.
  Sports has historically been an arena in which athlete-to-athlete 
contact has led to off-the-field or court engagement. Moreover, 
baseball as the national pastime of the United States and Cuba is the 
natural choice to promote goodwill among our countries' citizens. It is 
time that we reach out to the Cuban people with such democracy-building 
efforts.
  I am proud that the City of Baltimore is in the forefront of an 
initiative that will help to chip away the barriers that have isolated 
the citizens of Cuba from the United States. I applaud Mayor Kurt 
Schmoke and Peter Angelos, the Orioles owner, for seizing the 
opportunity to strengthen a historic bond between the Cuban and 
American people.
  Let us all take note, democracy is based upon the conviction that 
there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary times. I urge my 
colleagues to support the Baltimore Orioles and the City of Baltimore 
in their efforts.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, let me add that this exhibition is not an 
abandonment of our Nation's policies toward Castro or his regime, nor 
is it a weakening of our resolve against the tyranny of communism. The 
proceeds from this game, in fact, will go to build baseball stadiums, 
not politics. But it is an opportunity to showcase what is common to 
the people of the United States and Cuba, a passion for the game of 
baseball.
  I want to join the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) in 
congratulating Peter Angelos, the owner of the Baltimore Orioles, who 
has done so much for baseball, so much for Baltimore and is now doing 
so much to reach out a hand to try to bring better relations but doing 
so in the context of not accommodating a regime with which we do not 
agree but telling a people that is sometimes under that regime that we 
want to be their friends, if not the friends of their government.
  Governments cannot come together unless the people they serve find a 
common ground.
  This exhibition will not dissolve the differences between our two 
governments but it will allow the people of both lands to share in 
their common passion.
  Once again this spring, children in this country will pick up their 
bats and gloves and hit the playing fields with the same passion that 
has motivated children and lovers of the game for years.
  So too will the youth of Cuba.
  Their determination and effort will be directed to the game.
  They will be absorbed in the pitching and power hitters of their 
opponents not their politics.
  The Baltimore Orioles exhibition in Havana will allow the people of 
both countries to share their passions for the game and perhaps 
highlight what the people of our nations have in common and not the 
differences that divide them.
  It comes as no surprise to me that Peter Angelos and the Baltimore 
Orioles have led the effort to see this game become a reality and on 
behalf of the State of Maryland I want to thank Peter Angelos for his 
vision for baseball.
  A vision broader than the game itself which removes the barriers for 
all who share a love for the great game of baseball.

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